Thoughts on going out tractor+man contracting

[mtx.jag]

It's a bad job when these sort of prices are paid by farmers to people working for them yet somehow farmers expect their customers to pay more than the market price for milk, meat, corn, forage etc.
Double standards?

Unfortunately these are the prices down here..the tractor that had repairs was a puma..there are so many farmers sons going out,it's beyond..I gave up General tractor and driver work,it just dose not pay down here,I'm now earning more doing less,if that makes sense??..

 

[ARW]

Contractors prices really need to keep up with the times, the rates been quoted here would of been profitable in 2005, how much has tractor price/parts/diesel/insurance/labour gone up in the last 10 years?
everyone needs to sharpen there pencil or replacing said machine will be impossible, repairs get bigger making your old tractor an unreliable money pit.
as for the men that say "they wont pay anymore than that round here" well put your fooking rates up and they will have to pay if they actually need you, the dopes still on rates from the 90's wont last forever, charge right, succeed and proceed in running a profitable business, not a charity clown show subsidising an already subsidised industry
edit, apart from wales, you lads are in your own league

 

[Sprayerranger]

Fairly new to this forum stuff but have contracted without the aid of a farm to back me up for many years and I find if you do your sums right at the start and buy within your means ,do a good job turn up on time . The problem is most of my competitors have farms and are out for pocket money so don't get sucked in to price wars is my advise do your sums and stick to them . If you do a good job you'll get work

 

[Bumble Bee]

It's a bad job when these sort of prices are paid by farmers to people working for them yet somehow farmers expect their customers to pay more than the market price for milk, meat, corn, forage etc.
Double standards?

Agreed. But it is often the contractor themselves that sets the rates too low, just to get the work regardless of whether it will leave a profit or not.

It is also worth remembering that just because a customer says that such & such is charging x amount for a job does not necessarily mean that he is actually is.
I once had a fellow contractor complaining that his customers were telling him that I was cheaper. Turns out that I was in fact charging £2/acre more. What's more, I had never even spoken to his customers.

 

[Wellytrack]

How many of these threads must there be?
If an established outfit is years and years in the game using cheaper kit and working for less they must be making it add up.
Likewise the outfits with modern and up to date kit working hard at an hourly rate which matches their investment..

If there is a deficit with either, it's the same result for them both.

Six of one, half dozen of t'other..

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

you can't make anything working by the hour with a tractor

 

[ARW]

you can't make anything working by the hour with a tractor

its not the tractor that makes the cash its the tool behind that's got the capacity for profit

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

this is very true

its not the tractor that makes the cash its the tool behind that's got the capacity for profit

 

[FarmyStu]

Fairly new to this forum stuff but have contracted without the aid of a farm to back me up for many years and I find if you do your sums right at the start and buy within your means ,do a good job turn up on time . The problem is most of my competitors have farms and are out for pocket money so don't get sucked in to price wars is my advise do your sums and stick to them . If you do a good job you'll get work

Agreed as I've done the same.

I'd say to those young lads who are coming on here and asking how much to charge that (as you sometimes have to be cruel to be kind) if you don't know how to work out what to charge then perhaps running your own business isn't for you. Instead, get on a contracting outfit of someone else's and do all the tractor driving you can handle, earn a few quid and let breakdowns and weather be someone else's problem.

Once you've missed out on lazy summer BBQ weekends and sex in the afternoon (with an actual girl rather than an imagined one) for several summers, you'll be better placed to decide if sitting in a cab for the rest of your years is really what you want to do

 

[hally]

its not the tractor that makes the cash its the tool behind that's got the capacity for profit

We used to wrap a lot of bales, we charged £1.20 a bale and used to wrap at about 80/hr with a HS2000 on a 90hp John deere. Farmers were happy to pay this and we certainly did not get rich off it but if I went to farm and said I will wrap your bales for £100/hr they would all tell me to f**k off

 

[JOHNNY BOY]

In Ireland if i could get the work done at the rates you fellas are quoting, i would sell my tractors and let the contractor do all my tractor work.

 

[7740 man]

It's hard enough to make ends meet when you charge in the top end of these rates that get banded around!

 

[JOHNNY BOY]

It's hard enough to make ends meet when u charge in the top end of these rates that get banded around!

Dont understand how anyone can afford to run a tractor at these rates never mind pay someone to drive it.

 

[Skimmer]

Charge £30 plus fuel & get @Thick Farmer to do it.

 

[Thick Farmer]

Charge £30 plus fuel & get @Thick Farmer to do it.

That's how I run my business. No need to work yourself if someone else will do it cheaper. [emoji106]